Wordul · all words

noun · 1 syllable · /nɒtʃ/

NOTCH

What does "NOTCH" mean?

A V-shaped cut or indentation made in an edge or surface.

Meanings

  1. A small V-shaped cut used to mark, hold, or record something. He cut a notch in the tally stick for every day he survived alone.
  2. A degree or step on a scale. Her latest album is a notch above anything she's done before. figurative
  3. A narrow pass between mountains. The trail climbs steeply toward the notch before the final ridge.
  4. To achieve or record (a score, win, or milestone). The rookie notched her first win in front of the home crowd.

Did you know?

  • 'Notch' may owe its 'n' to a slip of the ear: 'an otch' was reanalysed as 'a notch' - the mirror image of how 'a napron' lost its 'n' to become 'an apron'.

Word origin

Likely from a misdivision of Old French 'an oche' (a notch) heard as 'a noche', from 'ochier' (to notch); the word's initial 'n' migrated from the article, as in 'newt' and 'nickname'.

Remember it

A NOTCH is a small dent - picture the 'V' carved between the O and the H, a cut in the middle of the word.

A little poem

One cut for the day the river rose,
one for the night it fell again-
the stick remembers what the man forgot.

tercet

What it teaches

Progress is just notches in a stick - small cuts, kept faithfully, become a record of how far you came.

Quick facts

What does NOTCH mean?

A V-shaped cut or indentation made in an edge or surface.

Is NOTCH a valid word?

Yes — NOTCH is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.

How many letters is NOTCH?

NOTCH has 5 letters and 1 syllable.

Where does NOTCH come from?

Likely from a misdivision of Old French 'an oche' (a notch) heard as 'a noche', from 'ochier' (to notch); the word's initial 'n' migrated from the article, as in 'newt' and 'nickname'.

What can NOTCH teach us?

Progress is just notches in a stick - small cuts, kept faithfully, become a record of how far you came.

How players do

Be the first to solve it.

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